Comments on: Getting meaningful things done using "fixed-schedule productivity"

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Of course, like requirements gathering – if it’s taking a while, just stop doing it!
Unfortunately, it’s the most important part of the SDLC, but it gets cut or neglected the most.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Do you have time to pee. If you don’t, your schedule is bad. Always remember, give yourself time to pee. The rest if just distractions.

By: falschirm

falschirm — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

When I was with the 82nd Airborne Division, we called this reverse cycle training. Our mission had to be completed by a certain time, we work backwards from that point plugging in the important steps that must be accomplished and then accomplish the mission!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Very good idea that the US Military has been using for a very long time. The Army calls it backwards planning and that is how missions are planned. Everything is planned backwards from end to start and down to the minutes involved.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

benjamin franklin did something close to this

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

There are more ways to waste time than there used to be – like writing comments and surfing the internet:-)
To us old-timers (I graduated from MIT in 1986, well before Facebook, twitter, texting, etc.) these new “revelations” may seem obvious. But I doubt they are to the 20-somethings out there distracted by electronic equipment and other things that seem to be “necessities.”
They are not and should not replace obligations.
Also, I wish all my bosses over the last 10 years would have stopped wasting my time and others’ by calling foolish meetings with a dozen people to get information that I could have gotten in a short hallway conversation or two because the Harvard MBA’s say that that’s the way you have to do business now. I hope Cal addressed that nonsense in one of his 3 books.

By: octopod

octopod — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

>Did anybody else read this as “I did my PhD, wrote three books, and mantained a blog all in one summer”?

I got as far as “I completed my PhD in computer science at MIT” and stopped reading.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

yep thats how it works….glad I dont work for vons anymore same thing.fire the old times making top pay.get someone lower on the pay scale.or make baggers and checkers get less hrs but expect the same amount of work done.so that the district manager and who ever can look good.while the employees are the ones that suffer so that the suits can look good and of course increase productivity…so they can get a bouns.mean while we lose hrs,more strees,we worked twice as hard so they can look good.and get bigger paychecks….thats b.s. “so suits can get bounes” you know if you think about that line.its explains alot of whats wrong with our sad sad world today…..o lol trickel down haha…..even if the suits dont get a bounes 1 year they did lose any hrs or money eather?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I love this article and I have forwarded it to my friends and children. We have been trying to operate a home based business, manage our appointments, care for our pets and teach important values to our children. I am certainly going to study on this subject, far to many days go by and I feel like I did not get everything done that I set out to do. The expression “wheels are turning but I am going no where” seems to describe how I feel many days.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

work is highly over-rated

By: colbyshummy

colbyshummy — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

How do you think Moms through the years have managed to prepare, cook and serve 4 or 5 different dishes nightly and put them all on the table AT THE SAME TIME piping hot? By starting with the time you want to eat and working backwards to ensure each dish finishes at the same time. And I always thought that was just plain old common sense……

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It’s simple, really. I get caught up in the same tangled delima most everyday.

But, i have learned that no matter how hard i try to get everything accomplished in one day, i end up not finishing one simple thing because i try to work on every task needed before finishing any.

I have learned to make a list and rank by importance and deadeline….then finish the first and not touch anymore until that one is completed or stopped due to lack of information. It has become more productive and alot less stressful around my office……

By: KK

KK — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“..ever since I had kids…(it did) put a start and end time on my day) I’ve been much more productive.”

Wellâ€¦ on thing is clear â€“ it hasnâ€™t been written by mom!

By: Old Dawg

Old Dawg — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

In my fifty year career as an engineer, I was forced by deadlines outside my control to follow this “revolutionary” time management technique. Too bad that the method didn’t permit me the time to write a thesis about it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

My first day of work at my first job, at 5 pm my boss leaned into my cubicle and said “Go home!” I took that to heart.

Watching friends and colleagues working longer and longer hours, began reminding them: “Work will always expand to fill the time you give it.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Companies use the same technique to become more productive. They cut employment to the bone, but keep producing the same stuff. Thus the big boost in productivity you hear about on the news. And bonuses get handed around.

If I work fewer hours and still make the same stuff, shouldn’t I get a bonus too?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

i agree. i work in the food service industry, and whenever business started to get overwhelming, my boss would always tell me, “take a break. let someone else take over for a while.” on occasion, he would have to tell me this several times. only after a while did i take this to heart. learning to let go of your work at appropriate times is not always easy. a friend at work also told me, “take your break, because the work’s gonna be there when you get back, no matter what you do.”

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

“If I work fewer hours and still make the same stuff, shouldn’t I get a bonus too?”
————————-
Well, you should. Either in the form of a promotion/raise if your exceptional productivity is noticed. Or in the form of more free time because you’re not wasting it working alongside the slow pokes

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I have used the same principle for 16 years as a project manager. I get assigned a project with a due date and then have to fit all sub tasks into the time left between today and the due date. It ends up becomming the project plan. I guess most folks use something similar to guide them on their way to the completion of everyday tasks. It’s not rocket science or even MIT science, it’s the way things get done.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Also, “Work has the propensity to take the time alloted”. Love that quote.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I totally agree. All work and no play makes Jack or Jill a very dull boy or girl. Life was meant to be spontaneous and enjoyed and not lived on a rigid schedule. Sooner or later something is going to give.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

If you work your ass off and complete everything asap, you are only “rewarded” with more work for the same money. Why bust your butt in todays corporate world? It’s all who you know 99% of the time and which butt to kiss.

Stop it.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I had a mgr (payroll dept) in the eighties that use to work 9-5 on Mon/Wed/Fri. He would work late on tues and thurs until 8 or so. We would enter into contracts on what our goals and objectives were. We had weekly meetings (same time every week) where he would review everything we did that week to accomplish those goals and objectives…revising when necessary. If we needed to meet with him and there was no free time during the week we could one of those two late nights to talk to him. Usually, you had to schedule time to talk to him (His way of saying no to interuptions). After work (9.00 pm) on Tuesdays he took guitar lessons. I did not like it much but you knew where you stood all the time.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

It seems to me that all he is saying is, don’t multi-task.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

I start my work around 7:30am I am supposed to leave round 4:30. but i often be over time. But i can’t claim i am over time due to a lot of paper work.

By: AJ3000

AJ3000 — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Wow! Actually all he is doing is being an jerk.
I don’t know if it is different at MIT, but much of being an academic involves mentoring and helping others, lecturing, serving on committees, talking to students…… So sure, I would probably get more research done if I hid from my students, refused to give advice, and ran from my other obligations, but that would be shirking a great deal of my responsibilities. Hiding away, writing a book, and blogging is actually not all there is to having an academic position.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

That’s a sweet idea. I often utilize the same method but have never thought about it in such a way. I will now make a conscious effort to schedule my productivity. I think it works. If you’re not always stressing yourself out over projects and just get it down in the time you’ve been given, then you’re productive. I get it. It’s an idealist kind of idea.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

and so now what?

By: xerxywho

xerxywho — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Keep in mind that this is a technique for “elective” work. We would not want fire fighters, law enforcement officers, surgeons, nuclear reactor operators etc. to leave before their tasks are complete. In jobs where health, safety, lives, and security are at stake this method can cause catastrophic problems.

Even in less vital professions, when time is a factor, people will cut corners and do inferior work to to get out on time. This can be end up wasting a great deal of time and money when these tasks have to be done over.

The idea presented is not a revolutionary idea – my brother, who is a carpenter, adopted a similar strategy after cutting his finger off with the table saw as a result of working too long and late and not paying close attention to what he was doing.

I prefer a “stopping point” method where one works until he or she is at a good stopping point and the schedule is more of a suggestion than absolute limit. This way things are not left “hanging” that can cause problems. This idea isn’t revolutionary either, but would apply more universally to work of all types and wouldn’t have the potential of major health and safety problems the idea presented in this article has.

By: Bryan Routledge

Bryan Routledge — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

my productivity increases dramatically when I read blogs. I feel it increasing already.